Breast Cancer in women - Chemotherapy for breast cancer (2024)

I went back to see the first surgeon in [place name] that I’d seen. And I said, “Look, okay. I realise that your diagnosis is obviously the only one because I’ve had that backed up. But can I have chemotherapy first please?” Because I just had it in my mind that chemotherapy sometimes shrinks tumours. And I thought if I can get this tumour shrunk sufficiently I may not have to have a mastectomy. So the surgeon looked at me and he said, “Well,” he said, “it’s not usual. It’s not the way I do things, but yes alright. It won’t make any difference, but you can have the chemo first if you want to.”

So the next week I was down to start chemo, and I went along and that was a really awful experience in a way. Now it was only awful to me, it wasn’t awful because of anything that they did. It was just that I knew that I was a recognised face because I’d been on television a lot. And I was very embarrassed at going into a huge room with a lot of people waiting, and I didn’t want people to look at me. I didn’t want people to stare at me. I didn’t want people to know anything about me and about what I was going through. Even in spite of the fact that I’d talked to friends about it.

And so I think I was very defensive about going in for my treatment.

And I can’t remember if it was after that first treatment or if I’d had a couple of treatments. And I had an appointment for a check up at the hospital and the nurse examined me and she measured the lump. And she was amazed because it had shrunk.

After just one session?

After just, well I think it was after just one session, as far as I can remember. I think it was a couple of weeks after the first session. And she was amazed because it had been 5.2 centimetres, and it had gone down to 3.6. And she said, “My goodness,” she said, “I’ve never seen anything like this before.” I was thinking, “Wow, yes. Result.” And she said, “I think we’re going to have to put a marker in because if this carries on over six sessions, we’re going to lose it. We’re not going to know where it is.” So they arranged that I would have a marker inserted.

I can’t remember when in the treatment that actually happened but I do remember that, before I started having the chemotherapy, the lump was actually so noticeable it was actually, I could see that it was altering the shape of my breast. And the nipple was turning because of the lump. And you could almost see it changing day by day.

After the chemotherapy?

No this was before the chemotherapy. It was getting bigger and bigger. But then after the chemotherapy, again, I could see it altering; it was changing slightly, ever so slightly day by day.

I’d had a bi-lateral PE [pulmonary embolism] as a result of the first chemotherapy. And I had an emergency admission to a local hospital and the treatment there, the emergency services were brilliant. What I experienced in the hospital was abominable, stunning and just absolutely ridiculous.

And just the very fact that there I was fighting for my life, could barely breathe, so saying, ‘You can call me Doctor Eyers, you can call me Ingrid Eyers, you can call me Mrs Eyers.” And usually when somebody says, “Mrs Eyers” I sort of look round for my mother-in-law, so I don’t necessarily realise that word, Mrs Eyers, which is why I don’t mention that as the first thing. But I was really fighting for my life. And then the final stage was, “But you cannot call me darling or dear or even sweetie.” I mean that was what had really got at me. I was being treated,

Was this by nurses?

This was by the nursing staff, yes. That really made me cross even though I think what I was trying to do was maintain dignity. Yes, I was fighting for my life, and I really was fighting for my life. I mean that really, it’s amazing that I’m still here, I know that. But then I was also fighting for my dignity in that whole process. And I was not given any dignity in that hospital at that time. If you consider that the diarrhoea that you experience when you’re going through chemotherapy and you’ve barely got the energy to get yourself to and from the toilet; to keep yourself clean at that time. I had to ask for the facilities to wash my hands. I could not get to the washbasin and wash my hands myself.

And the variation of assistance I was offered so that I could wash my hands was stunning. It varied from somebody holding a bowl of water up like that, to somebody actually saying, “I think I’ll bring you a box of disinfectant wipes and then you can wipe your hands properly afterwards, every time, independently without having to ask.” So that was the range of options I was given. But I had to ask every time. At no time was it considered that I might need or want to wash my hands.

I finished the chemo on 28th December and it was something like the 4th Jan 2008, as I say my hubby got ill and I caught his vomiting bug. But I truly, that was probably the worst I’ve ever felt. I could have lain on the bed upstairs and said, “Oh just put me to sleep.” I just felt so awful.

Did you go to A&E?

No, because I’d been having the chemo, they gave us a phone number like an out of hours number, which actually was to the main hospital in [remove place name]. And I think in the end [remove husband’s name] rang, it was about one o’clock Saturday morning. And we’d bought a temperature gauge because that was one of the things to keep track of with the chemo, to make sure you don’t get infections. So we’d sort of monitored my temperature. So he knew that my temperature was high. So when he rang and gave the temperature and sort of the fact that I was, you know, feeling ill from both ends. It was like, and they said, “Bring her straight in.”

So we drove, I got to the hospital about 3 o’clock in the morning. But again we were just getting on the bed and it was like, “Oh just let me go.” I felt so awful. So I was in for about, I was probably in there for I think about six days. But I just felt so ergh, awful.

I went back to work, then the beginning of March in 2008 and, from one aspect, apart from one viral infection, I think it was almost 20 months before I have had a day off sick. So that was, like physically, I recovered well I suppose. Yeah.